Review of El Cantante (2006) by Andrea L — 07 Mar 2008

Hmmm. The story of Hector Lavoe is a well-known story in Latin Land. I liked this film and I thought Jennifer Lopez was really good. Marc Anthony seemed to lack spark, but that may have had something to do with scripting.

I thought that too much emphasis was put on their married life and not enough on developing the other characters in Hector's life like Ralph Mercado, Jerry Masucci, and especially Willie Colon. Also I don't think they made it quite clear enough what were the pressures in his life that he couldn't handle, particularly the ones emanating from the music industry people.

As a result it was a bit difficult to sympathize with the character as this film presented him. And also I really don't like fast edits and hand-held cameras, which I thought detracted from the potential for powerful realism in this story.

Great music throughout and I discovered a new favourite song: Aguanile!